Fastening devices of the type disclosed in the present application are exemplified, for example, by U.S. Pat. No. 4,693,630 and German Patent 2 546,526. In the U.S. patent there is described a fastening device for releasable interconnection of panels and wherein a pair of resilient projecting clamping arms extend out of a cylindrical housing mounted adjacent a straight edge of one panel whereby to be received in a bore formed in an adjacent panel to be connected thereto. The clamping arms form part of a resilient unitary spring member with the arms being separated to an engaged position by rotating a cam to force them against a wedge. Accordingly, the clamping arms expand and grip into the sidewalls of the bore. When it is necessary to release the clamping arms from the bore one has to rely on the restoring force of the spring element. A disadvantage of this type of a fastening device is that due to metal fatigue and due to the force of engagement of the spring, it may be difficult to release the clamping arms from the sidewall of the bore when one needs to disassemble the panels. The disassembly usually results in damaging the inner sidewall of the bore and accordingly it is no longer possible to reengage the clamping arms to reconnect the panels and the entire piece of furniture that is formed by these panels can no longer be assembled with the fastening devices. Furthermore, the manufacturing of such a fastener is expensive due to machining and assembly. It can also be said that it is unreliable.
German Patent 2 546 526 teaches a similar type connector and wherein a split dowel head with gripping head sections project from the housing and is actuated to a gripping position by driving a wedge therebetween. Various types of mechanisms are disclosed for actuating the wedge to cause the gripping head to open. Again, the problem with this type of connector is that it poses difficulty in disengaging the head if adjoining panels need to be disconnected. The problem of damaging the sidewalls of the bore in attempting to disconnect the members also poses another serious problem, as above described.